International guidelines for the management of giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica: The 2015 results

Abstract

New international guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of systemic vasculitis involving large vessels, which had resulted from the systematic generalization of current scientific achievements and clinical experience, were published in 2015. The experts of the French Large Vessel Vasculitis Study Group have elaborated 15 recommendations covering a wide range of problems of giant cell arteritis; the European League Against Rheumatism and the American College of Rheumatology have presented 9 recommendations for the management of polymyalgia rheumatica. The purpose of this paper is to provide common characteristics of the main points of the new guidelines, by discussing some controversial issues.

Keywords

• systemic vasculitis
• giant cell arteritis
• takayasu arteritis